Kathleen Granados | Proposal for Rhapsody Tentacular, 2024

LABOR & LEGACY II

Crochet or knit a blanket in a public space.

Do this for 12 hours.

Give the blanket to someone outside in need.

Description

In 2018, I created the project Labor & Legacy, which took place in two privately- owned public spaces in New York City. For this piece, I continuously crocheted in the space during the hours of an average workday (9AM-5PM), or during the opening to closing hours. When completed, the crocheted creation was given away to someone in need.

Similarly aligned to Labor & Legacy, it’s second iteration, Labor & Legacy II, will involve continuously handmaking a blanket for approximately 12 hours in a public space. The finished blanket will then immediately be given to someone outside in need.

Notes on Labor & Legacy II

Labor & Legacy crosses through ideas surrounding home, private vs. public spaces, shelter, care, capitalism, duration, and the body. While also meditating on these concerns, Labor & Legacy II comes at the intersection of current laws, rules, and attitudes which look to punish sleeping in public spaces.

In 2022, the Ninth Circuit struck down laws by the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, which criminalized unhoused persons for sleeping in their car or outdoors and using a blanket, pillow, or cardboard. This spring, the Supreme Court will take up the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson, deciding whether it is unconstitutional for local governments to punish sleeping in public spaces when there is nowhere else to go. While this case is focused on parts of the western UnitedStates, it will set a precedent for other cities’ responses to outdoor sleeping as homelessness and the housing crisis continues to grow.1

1 Steve Berg, “Supreme Court and Homelessness: What the Grants Pass v. Johnson Case Could Do,” National Alliance to End Homelessness Blog, January 26, 2024. https://endhomelessness.org/blog/supreme-court-and-homelessness-what-the-grants- pass-v-johnson-case-could-do/

Julia Shumway, “Supreme Court will hear Grants Pass homeless camping case,” Washington State Standard, January 17, 2024.https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/01/17/supreme-court-will-hear-grants-pass-homeless-camping-case/#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Supreme%20Court%20will,city%20restrictions%20on%20outdoor%20sleeping.

ACLU Northern California, “U.S. Supreme Court Grants Cert in Grants Pass Case, but Unrelated Constitutional Issues Still to be Resolved in San Francisco Homelessness Case,” January 12, 2024. https://www.aclunc.org/news/us-supreme-court-grants-cert- grants-pass-case-unrelated-constitutional-issues-still-be

Kathleen Granados is an artist and educator based in New York City. Granados uses her family archives and everyday materials to create works that span sculpture, installation, sound, and public projects. From cultural institutions to historic house museums, Granados has been exhibiting and creating installations at a wide range of spaces since 2009. She holds an MFA from Hunter College, and a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she is currently a part-time instructor. She also serves as a visiting artist for the BFA Fine Arts program at the School of Visual Arts. Her recent exhibitions include: Against the Grain: The Stories We Tell Ourselves at Longwood Art Gallery, Object Fluency: Ronald Gonzales and Kathleen Granados at The Cluster Gallery, and Uptown Triennial 2023 at Wallach Gallery, Columbia University.